Owning a Private Dental Office is Great…
In Theory.
When kids are growing up, the thought of being a dentist crosses everyone’s mind. They want great teeth and… of course… a great paycheck. However, the days of showing up to a corporate office and being taken care of financially are long gone.
Surprising Statistics:
- Only 1 out of 4 people join the corporate dental practice out of school.
- 1 out of 4 people who go private, start their own practice.
- Unfortunately, only 1 out of 4 owners have any business experience at all.
- 1 out of 4 offices are guaranteed to shut down within 10 years.
- Past 30 years, 1 out of 4 offices will never see another day of patients again.
The ADA, DentalPost, and the Dental Tribune have studied the difference between successful practices and failures. Here’s what they found…
The Dental Office Problem
No dental practice has ever failed because they’re bad at taking care of teeth.
Prove me wrong.
You may immediately think to yourself, “that can’t be the case, people get sued all the time and it kills practices. If you’re good at taking care of teeth, those suits would never happen.” And you’d be right… mostly.
The reality is that the number of lawsuits filed per office in the U.S. is directly related to the patient satisfaction rating of the office in question. It turns out that people don’t actually sue who wrongs them…
They sue people they don’t like.
Even if a lawsuit is filed against a branch with good patient service, it’s estimated that a well-handled relationship with the patient will reduce the settlement amount by roughly 50%.
The biggest impact on an office is rarely the performance of the individual; it has to do with their connection with the patient.
The Common Solution
If you lived your life as a hammer…
And you hopped around and all you ever did was hit nails, you’d get pretty good at it. (You’d nail it.)
But if a screw comes across your face, what are you going to immediately try and do?
You’re going to hammer the snot out of it.
Most dentists are very well educated throughout their DDS program. Therefore, they are great at taking good care of teeth.
Unfortunately, most solutions in a private dental office have nothing to do with teeth.
Most business issues are a people problem.
Most dentists, however, try to pound their screws (people) with their hammer (dental experience), and they end up with employees who are bent out of shape.
Medical training does not help a receptionist.
Surgery techniques do not help office managers.
And financial problems aren’t analyzed with a periodontal chart.
A “People” Solution
A “people” issue requires a “people” solution… NOT a “person” solution.
A select few dentists realize that dentistry is a “people” issue and can still miss the mark if they’re not careful.
There’s a great book called The E-Myth Revisited that demonstrates how people burn themselves out on a daily basis trying to wear too many hats.
Only one problem.
Most private dental offices can’t afford to fully employ a CFO, a CMO, a CEO, a COO, and any other C_O’s that happen to be in style.
That doesn’t mean they don’t still need their resources.
Thankfully, there is an entire industry designed to support businesses in this exact situation, and they’ve been growing in size and efficacy by the day.
Partnerships.
Three Feet From Gold
Private dental practices LOVE partnerships.
But if practices already use the resources they need to succeed, why do none of them make it?
Thankfully, most private dental offices already have a couple, if not tens of partnerships.
This reduces costs, raises revenue, decreases stress, and speeds up the dental practice altogether.
The problem is that most private dental practices stop at equipment, hiring, and, if they’re super savvy, even marketing.
There’s one partnership that can cause 3 out of 4 employees who would otherwise leave the practice to stay:
ACTIVE Financial Consultation.
Let Me Cut To The Chase
Dentists, let me cut to the chase.
- 1 out of 4 Private practices offer retirement planning.
- 1 out of 4 Employees don’t use the retirement plans in place.
- 1 out of 4 Employees feel confident about their plan.
- 3 out of 4 Employees stay with a practice just because of financial security.
The plan is simple:
- Set up a plan,
- Educate on the plan,
- Enroll in the plan.
I’ll do the math for you…
A Private Dental Practice can experience up to 12x retention with each employee just by partnering with a financial consultant.
If you want to see whether or not you qualify for a partnership, schedule a time below to see if PaperClip might be a good fit.